Are babies really cute and adorable or is that we have been trained to believe they are?
Most people speak of how cute and adorable babies are. Are babies really cute or is it we are programmed from the time we are children to believe babies are cute? Some babies look funny when they have not grown into their heads or the bone hasn’t really harden yet. And most babies have pretty generic features the 1st 18 months of life so to say this baby is cute and that is not would be more suggestive of the viewer than something one can quantify. If all people looked rather generic do that mean all would be cute, handsome, etc? It is that because babies don’t usually display malice, hatred, envy, etc that we think they are cute because of the presumed innocence of babies? Why do you believe babies are considered cute and it is more of a personality thing or a physical look?
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I think most babies are hideous.
There is a theory that we are genetically predisposed to think things with large eyes and heads are cute.
I think it’s hardwired into the species to perceive babies as cute so we protect them. Otherwise humans would die out because we’d throw them out of the car at 70 miles an hour when they’re piercing our eardrums and sanity with their upset.
@JilltheTooth GA!! Adding to the cuteness is their after-bath scent. LOL !!! Love ‘em.
They have to be cute, adorable & wuvable. The payback being, boy do they stink & the noise that comes out of their tiny heads….wow!
Right; and that screeching at 2am? OMG.
Very few babies, or little kids for that matter, are really cute. Now, baby animals are another story. They are all super cute.
Is that why people still pinch my cheeks? Is it coz I’m short with big eyes and this neoteny thing? Huh.~
Newborn babies are NOT cute. Maybe one in a million isn’t horrifying looking. They are kind of alien-ish. After a week or so though, I think the majority of babies are pretty damn cute. They’re small, soft, round, and perfect. Goochie!
I like googling Winston Churchill and looking at pictures of him and laughing while thinking of the fact that “all babies look like Winston Churchill” because it’s true.
Infant features are hard-wired to bring up feelings of empathy and a desire to provide protection. This is true when typical infant features are found in adults (photos of those with them elicit a more feelings that are associated with infants than those without) and cross-species (puppies, kittens, etc.). Large eyes, small neck, disproportionate head – and others – naturally elicit the desire to care and coo for the thing. “Cuteness” is something that we just generally associate with the things that we feel a desire to care for and protect.
Those who in infancy possessed this influence on those around them were, of course, more likely to survive. And even today we see that whether or not a baby is considered “attractive” (e.g., more cute than another) affects how attentive a caregiver is – ugly babies get crappy care.
All newborns pretty much scare me, so I don’t get too close to see how cute they are.
I’ve also heard that really cute babies makes an unattractive adult and unattractive babies make really attractive adults. Don’t know if there were studies done to back this up.
@chyna : Nope. Katawagrey was the cutest baby ever and now she’s a gorgeous adult. And I’m not at all biased.
They are in general, but it is certainly not a default. Plus, it takes at least a week for them to stop looking all weird.
@chyna I was a little baby gem. Now look at me. Obviously that is false. ;)
Seriously @deni, is that your bably pic? What an absolute cutie!
@chyna yes. i am obsessed with my baby self, lol. my dad took so many amazing pics of me and my brothers when we were little. i hope when i have a baby it has as fat a head and as big alien eyes as i did, lollll
It’s an eyes of the beholder thing. I see babies in the hospital nursery I’d rate a 5; some an 8 and others a 10. lol To me, their cuteness varies from baby to baby, not all of them being
P R E C I O U S looking.
I’m thinking it’s an evolutionary adaptation. Babies are helpless, so we are evolutionary adapted to think they’re cute so we can protect them. Otherwise we’d eat them.
My girlfriend says, that when you take her picture at a certain angle, it looks as though she is hiding a baby in her chin. ;-)
@ladymia69 I imagine that it’s a deep evolutionary instict in many species. Either the offspring are produced by making millions of them (like fish), or there are just a few offspring that are protected by the parents. Try to get between a mother bear and her cub—I dare you!
Why else would I want to gain 40 lbs, endure terrible backache, heartburn and swollen ankles and go through the terrible pains of childbirth? Of course they are cute. At least mine were. :P
From an anthropological/evolutionary standpoint, we generally think babies look cute. For some reason, most baby anythings seem kind of cute, like even turtles or hippos (I know, weird).
But this is not to say that there are definitely not some ugly babies.
I guess I can’t say I ever thought a baby fish was cute.
I wonder if babies release some sort of hormone that make many adults want to protect and look after them. I think there is also some sort of instinct in mammals to keep from hurting things that are much smaller. I think that’s why most adult dogs won’t play roughly with smaller dogs, even if they are fully grown.
I don’t know how gorgeous I am, but I was an extremely cute baby. And, if you believe everything @JilltheTooth says, I was friendly, sweet and barely cried. :P
For me my sons were beautiful from the first second I saw them , it came from deep inside of my heart and soul .
Steven Pinker goes into this in his book How The Mind Works. Essentially he says that all babies look cute to other people & critters to protect them from harm. I feel Mr Pinker is off his nut in several ways, but he explains his theory better than I would.
It’s an infant charm, a mirage. In reality, wtihout the special baby smell and hypnotizing seal eyes, they’re rolly polly tadpoles.
That baby looks like Churchill.
@jonsblond SHHH!! If you say his name three times, he appears behind you…
…with a chalkboard…
I think most newborns are not so pretty. They were just floating in water for 9 months…like little old men raisins.
But, I disagree that all babies look alike. They all have specific features.
I personally think my children are absolutely gorgeous. But, I’m not naive. I know that my youngest was not that cute when he first came out. And he’s not very photogenic (like his father) but my oldest is very photogenic (he takes after me lol).
Cuteness is in the eye/heart of the beholder.
It’s not training, it is an inbred fact that we will.
@casheroo: According to my mother, on the day I was born, I looked exactly like her short, fat uncle which is how she knew she wasn’t imagining a family resemblance. :)
Though, to be fair, the man does look like a giant baby anyway.
They really are. The cuter they are, the better chance they have of surviving.
It’s been shown that babies-both people and animals-are cute to increase their chances of survival. In other words, mother may be less inclined to properly care for her baby if it was not cute.
Like the saying goes “A toad is a dolphin in the eyes of its mother.” Lol. I think most little kids and babies are ugly, and I find it annoying when others go “Aw”, “Cute!”, “What a sweetie!” Yuck. Lol.
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